Fudge swirl ice cream is the best of both worlds when you’ve got vanilla and chocolate lovers living under one roof. Rich and custardy vanilla ice cream swirled with silky fudge ribbons, freshly churned in your ice cream maker. It’s the perfect dessert on a hot summer day.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Recipe for Fudge Swirl Ice Cream
- 100% real-deal ice cream: You know how when you buy a cheap ice cream bar, you can leave it out in the sun and it doesn’t really melt and just sort of becomes like warm foam between two cookies? Yeah, commercial ice creams use all sorts of unnatural ingredients. But if you make this creamy treat, you get the real deal. No stabilizers, preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or anything but basic ingredients and real food.
- … Made with your ice cream maker: Is it just me or is it increasingly difficult to find ice cream maker ice cream recipes? No-churn ice cream has taken over the internet, and I get the appeal of not needing an ice cream machine to make ice cream, but I’m just going to say it: The resulting ice cream you get when you churn it is far superior in taste and texture to no-churn ice cream. Do with that what you will.
- Simple yet sophisticated: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Ice cream in general is one of my favorite summer desserts for entertaining a small, intimate group. This recipe for fudge chocolate swirl ice cream in particular is so simple, but it’s also sophisticated and impressive. And it gets points because you literally HAVE to make it in advance.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Sweetened condensed milk: Used to make the hot fudge swirl, sweetened condensed milk adds a sweet, milky flavor to whatever you put it in, without all the excess moisture that you get from regular milk. This works in our favor for ice cream, keeping the fudge nice and smooth without making it icy.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Semi sweet chocolate or dark chocolate will both work in this recipe, but I do not recommend using milk chocolate, which would make this sauce sickly sweet.
- Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter, but in this recipe, I’m using salted butter as salt helps balance and enhance both the sweetened condensed milk and the chocolate. If you use unsalted butter, I recommend adding a pinch of salt, or even sea salt, to the recipe.
- Egg yolks: In addition to a smooth and creamy, custard-like ice cream, using egg yolks in your ice cream base also prevents ice crystallization, which keeps your ice cream from getting rock hard.
- White sugar
- Whole milk & heavy whipping cream: Milk fat helps us achieve that helps you get a nice creamy vanilla ice cream because, like eggs and sugar, it helps keep ice crystals from forming. For that reason, I don’t recommend swapping the whole milk for skim milk or even 2% or even playing around too much with the whole milk to heavy cream ratio. Should you want to play around, know that there are recipes on the internet that call for up to 2 cups of whole milk and only 1 cup of heavy cream. Also, if you add too much heavy cream to your ice cream, it will make the mouthfeel unpleasant.
- Pure vanilla extract: Do not substitute pure vanilla extract with imitation vanilla. Be sure to add the vanilla after the custard base has chilled, so it doesn’t evaporate in the hot liquid. You can swap for a whole vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste. If you use a whole vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste, you should add it during the “make a custard base” stage, or step one under ‘Vanilla Ice Cream.’
Without Further Ado… Let’s Make Chocolate Fudge Swirl Ice Cream!
For the Fudge Swirl Sauce
- Make hot fudge sauce. Add sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and butter to a medium saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat as soon as all of the chocolate chips and butter have melted. Transfer to an airtight container and allow it to come to room temperature before putting it in the fridge. To use, take out of the refrigerator at least 2 hours in advance to allow it to come to room temperature again.
For the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
- Make a custard base. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until it turns a light yellow color. In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream and the milk. Heat the milk over medium-low heat, until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat.
- Temper eggs. Slowly pour mixture into egg mixture, stirring constantly, so the eggs don’t begin to cook and curdle on you. Add the mixture back to the saucepan.
- Heat custard. Return to heat until temperature reaches 160-165° F. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon so the eggs in the custard don’t cook on the edges of the pan. Visually, you’ll know the custard is done once it starts to thicken. (I use a thermometer gun to temp at the surface and have found that taking it off when it reads 160° F ensures nothing curdles. I also try to move any accumulated foam out of my way with a spatula as the custard below seems to be hotter.) For me, using my largest (gas) burner, this takes less than 6 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Let your custard base mature. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve, and store either in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- Churn the custard. Once the custard base is chilled, remove from fridge and add pure vanilla extract. Pour it into your ice cream maker and proceed according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. (With my Cuisinart Compressor Ice Cream Maker, this takes 30-35 minutes.)
- Pour into an ice cream container, loaf pan, or tupperware container. Make sure fudge is room temperature. We’re going Mama Bear here – not too cold, not too hot. Just Right. Pour a layer of the vanilla ice cream base into your ice cream container. Using approximately 1 cup of the fudge, dollop spoonfuls of it onto the first base layer. Pour more of the base over the chocolate. Repeat until no more ice cream remains. Use a butter knife or a spoon to swirl everything together, creating fudge ribbons, working fast so the ice cream doesn’t melt on you. For context, the more your ice cream melts, the icier your ice cream.
- Freeze. Put it into the freezer for at least 3-5 hours or until it reaches your desired consistency.
Looking for another homemade ice cream recipe you can make with your ice cream maker? Try this delicious strawberry swirl ice cream. (It’s made with fresh strawberries and real vanilla bean!)
📖 Recipe
Homemade Fudge Swirl Ice Cream
Rich and custardy vanilla ice cream swirled with silky fudge ribbons, freshly churned in your ice cream maker. It’s the perfect dessert on a hot summer day.
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Fudge Swirl
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk 14 oz
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 6 oz
- 3 tablespoons butter salted or unsalted (if unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
For the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
- 4 egg yolks
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Fudge Swirl
- Add sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and butter to a medium saucepan. Heat over low, stirring constantly. Remove from heat as soon as all of the chocolate chips and butter have melted. Transfer to an airtight container and allow it to come to room temperature before putting it in the fridge. To use, take out of the refrigerator at least 2 hours in advance to allow it to come to room temperature again.
Vanilla Ice Cream
- Make the custard base. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until it turns a light yellow color. In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream and the milk. Heat the milk over medium-low heat, until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat.
- Temper your egg mixture. Slowly add milk and heavy cream to eggs and sugar, stirring constantly, so the eggs don’t begin to cook and curdle on you. Add the mixture back to the saucepan.
- Heat custard. Return to heat until temperature reaches 160-165° F. Stirring constantly so the eggs in the custard don’t cook on the edges of the pan. Visually, you’ll know the custard is done once it starts to thicken. (I use a thermometer gun to temp at the surface and have found that taking it off when it reads 160° F ensures nothing curdles. I also try to move any accumulated foam out of my way with a spatula as the custard below seems to be hotter.) For me, using my largest (gas) burner, this takes less than 6 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Let your custard base mature. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve, and store either in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- Churn the custard. Once the custard base is chilled, remove from fridge and add pure vanilla extract. Pour it into your ice cream maker and proceed according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. (With my Cuisinart Compressor Ice Cream Maker, this takes 30-35 minutes.)
- Pour into an ice cream container, loaf pan, or tupperware container. Make sure fudge is room temperature. We’re going Mama Bear here – not too cold, not too hot. Just Right. Pour a layer of the vanilla ice cream base into your ice cream container. Then dollop spoonfuls of fudge onto the first base layer. Pour more of the base over the chocolate. Repeat until no more ice cream remains. You’ll use approximately 1 cup of the fudge sauce, with a little leftover to use as ice cream topping. Use a knife or a spoon to swirl everything together, working fast so the ice cream doesn’t melt on you.
- Freeze. Put it into the freezer for at least 3 hours or until it reaches your desired consistency. To serve, put the ice cream container in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to soften.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
